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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Birthday: Stevie Wonder

In my book, Stevie Wonder is the the greatest songwriter and composer of all time. Penning an extensive catalog of music that incorporates many different styles and genres, topping the U.S. music charts with more than 30 top 10 hits which won him 22 Grammy awards. A social and political activist, Wonder campaigned to get Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday declared a national holiday in 1980, composing "Happy Birthday" from his Hotter Than July album in tribute to Dr. King and was a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2009. Today we salute this living legend on his date of birth and wish to see him around for many years to come.

Other awards and recognition
1983: inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1984: received an Academy Award for Best Song for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red.
1989: inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1999: received the Polar Music Prize and Kennedy Center Honors.
2002: received the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's Spring Sing. The same year, Wonder received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
2004: received the Billboard Century Award. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Artists of All Time.
2006: was inducted, as one of the first inductees, into the Michigan Walk of Fame. The same year, Wonder received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
2008: Ranked at number five on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists", making him as the third most successful male artist in the history of Billboard Hot 100 chart.
2009: Recipient of the second Gershwin Prize For Popular Song.
2009: Recipient of the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. This special award underlines a popular artist’s extraordinary contribution to the musical world. The Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award is in bronze.
2009: Named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations.